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Bush’s Intelligence
 Things
are getting messy. Before I address
today’s headlines, let me offer my simple, comprehensive peace plan
for the Middle East.
First,  give
Palestine back to the Brits. Then adopt a reverse Monroe Doctrine: the
United States will stay out of the Eastern Hemisphere.
Think about it.
Okay, now to today’s
headlines. Abdul Rahman, the Afghan gent who was sentenced to death for
converting to Christianity, has been spared. Good thing we’ve brought
democracy to Afghanistan, eh? President Bush says Islam is a
“religion of peace” that has been “hijacked” by a
few nuts. He would know.
One little question: Why
didn’t the moderate majority of Muslims make a peep of protest when
Rahman was sentenced to death? Maybe Islamic “moderation” is
a little different from ours?
Over here, meanwhile, a couple of
American professors, Stephen Walt of Harvard and John Mearsheimer of the
University of Chicago, have published a long article on the Israel lobby,
arguing that the state of Israel has been a huge liability for the United
States. Having argued this myself for many years, I can tell them what to
expect from their critics, if they don’t know already.
The two profs will hear the words
anti-Semitism, Holocaust, genocide,
Auschwitz, and so forth. Not that they’ll be directly accused
of these things, but somehow the general idea will make itself felt.
![[Breaker quote for Bush's Intelligence: Unsolicited advice]](2006breakers/060328.gif) For
example, Bret Stephens, of the pro-Israel, pro-war Wall
Street Journal, likens their article to an “anti-Semitic
conspiracy theory,” using “every canard ever alleged of the
Jews,” then adds scrupulously, “I do not mean to suggest that
Messrs. Mearsheimer and Walt are themselves anti-Semitic. But ... what may
not be anti-Semitic in intent may yet be anti-Semitic in effect. By giving aid
and comfort to people who have no trouble substituting the word
‘Jews’ for ‘Israel lobby,’ the Mearsheimer-Walt
article is anti-Semitic in effect.” Stephens adds his kiss-of-death
clincher: “No wonder former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke was quick to
endorse the article....”
“I do not mean to suggest
... But ... ” After but comes the insinuation. Analogy: “I
do not mean to suggest that John Doe is himself a Soviet agent. But, well,
just look at the people who are applauding his article! Draw your own
conclusions.”
Mearsheimer and Walt
aren’t facing a deadly tiger, but a Tasmanian devil — a nasty,
filthy beast that won’t kill you, but will leave you with bites,
scratches, and an infection. They are facing fanatical Jews who claim to
speak for all Jews.
You can argue that Judaism too is
a religion of peace — Jerusalem is the City of Peace — that has
been hijacked by Zionist warmongers. But I guess that would be anti-Semitic.
In effect, if not in intent, if you follow me.
The idea of the Chosen People
returning to the Holy Land at last, after thousands of years, is an inspiring
one. But the wrong people took it up and executed it in the wrong way
— with a state that drove the natives out and created endless
bitterness.
Still, I’ve come to believe
that the United States, not Israel, is the chief culprit in the Middle East,
which, to be sure, is a region overrun with culprits. We think of Christianity
as a religion of peace, but imagine if, in this country, Methodists and Baptists
were blowing up each others’ churches. That gives you a rough idea of
the difficulty of pacifying Iraq after invading and disrupting it.
It’s a little late in the day
to see Americans as “innocents abroad,” as I once did. The rest
of the world no longer sees us as well-meaning oafs, seduced by the Zionists.
It thinks we’re big boys now who ought to know what we’re
doing and be held responsible. This is called “anti-Americanism,”
which seems to be very much like, and closely related to,
“anti-Semitism.”
Bush has tried to salvage his
innocence by blaming “faulty intelligence,” but then continuing
on the same course anyway. Attila the Hun also relied on intelligence: he
never invaded without consulting his astrologer and being assured it was a
slam-dunk. Apparently, judging by his successful record, his astrologer was
more reliable than the CIA. So was Nancy Reagan’s. The lesson for
Bush is obvious.
Joseph Sobran |
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| Copyright © 2006 by the
Griffin Internet Syndicate, a division of Griffin Communications This column may not be reprinted in print or Internet publications without express permission of Griffin Internet Syndicate 
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